On this episode of The Stone Zone, host Roger Stone is joined by Troy Smith, editor-at-large at Slingshot News, and Jason Lyons, a former chairman of the United States-Israel Security Alliance and former member of Congressman Ron DeSantis' Middle East subcommittee for Jewish Outreach, to discuss what a second Trump administration would look like in the wake of the Biden challenge to President Donald Trump in the upcoming Democratic primary, and what it would mean for the Jewish vote in the 2020 election. Plus, a look at what a new Trump administration might look like when it comes to Israel and its interests here at home, and a discussion of the dangers of anti-Semitism in the Jewish community, including the recent anti-Israel protests on college campuses across the country and across the world, and the impact of the attack in Gaza on the Jewish people on the anniversary of the 7/11 attacks on the city of Tel Aviv, which took place on October 7th, 2019, the day after the attack on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel's worst anti-Semitic attack since the 9/11 terrorist attack on a synagogue in the first half of the 19th century, and much more, Roger Stone and his co-host, Troy Smith discuss what the new administration should do in response to the growing anti-Americanism in the face of growing threats to the Jewish-American community, and support for Israel, including from President Joe Biden's latest challenge to Donald Trump. . Roger Stone has served as a senior campaign aide to three Republican presidents, and is a New York Times bestselling author, best-selling author, and long-selling-author Roger Stone. , and a longtime friend and political adviser to President Trump. Roger Stone, he is a self-proclaimed "The Donald J. Stone . . Stone has appeared on thousands of broadcasts, speaks at countless venues, and has lectured before the prestigious Oxford Political Union and the Cambridge Union Society, and speaks to countless audiences across the political and cultural arena, and he has become a pop culture icon. He is an outspoken libertarian. The Daily Beast, and Roger Stone joins us to talk about everything you need to know about what's going on in the world of politics. and everything you should know about him. The Stone has been doing in the past and what you should be doing in it, including: and what he's going to do in the next five years, and why you should do about it.
00:00:00.000The Stone Zone, with legendary Republican strategist and political icon and pundit Roger Stone.
00:00:13.760Stone has served as a senior campaign aide to three Republican presidents.
00:00:17.520He is a New York Times bestselling author and a longtime friend and advisor of President Donald Trump.
00:00:23.700As an outspoken libertarian, Stone has appeared on thousands of broadcasts,
00:00:27.600spoken at countless venues, and lectured before the prestigious Oxford Political Union and the Cambridge Union Society.
00:00:34.600Due to his four-plus decades in the political and cultural arena, Stone has become a pop culture icon.
00:00:39.960And now, here's your host, Roger Stone.
00:00:47.220Welcome, I'm Roger Stone, and yes, you are back in the Stone Zone.
00:00:52.120Yesterday, the political world was rocked by the announcement by President Donald Trump that he had accepted a challenge from President Joe Biden for two presidential debates, the first one as early as June.
00:01:08.600We'll get to that later in the program, but first, I want to bring on my co-host, Troy Smith, the editor-at-large at Slingshot.news.
00:01:20.860Troy, welcome back into the Stone Zone.
00:01:24.040Roger, it's a beautiful day, and it's a great day because Slingshot.news got some wonderful news this morning.
00:01:30.600You know, offering a product with no advertisements, the best possible reading experience.
00:01:36.100We broke the news of the debate with you yesterday, and at the same time, we're also doing really well.
00:01:43.160So, look, Israel, and by extension, the Jewish people across the world are dealing with a rise of anti-Semitism not seen since Germany in 1933.
00:01:54.240The protests and encampments that we're seeing on the campuses are the latest spillover from the October 7th massacre and the subsequent retaliation in Gaza.
00:02:07.500Currently, Israel is dealing with a president in Joe Biden who most recently threatened to cut off Israel and is using his executive powers to satisfy a small percentage of his voter base that is rabidly anti-Israel for the sole purpose of gaining potential votes in the upcoming election.
00:02:30.640On the other side, we also need to look at what a second Trump administration would look like when it comes to Israel if the Jewish vote does not perform any better for Donald Trump in the upcoming election.
00:02:48.000We know that Jared Kushner, who negotiated the historic Abraham Accords, is not going to be in a second Trump administration by his own announcement.
00:03:00.640So, who's going to watch Israel's back in the American Jewish interests here at home?
00:03:08.440Our next guest has served as a Jewish liaison to the Republican Party for well over 15 years.
00:03:16.380He's a former chairman of the United States-Israel Security Alliance.
00:03:21.320He was the chairman of Congressman Ron DeSantis' Middle East Subcommittee for Jewish Outreach.
00:03:28.280He is an entrepreneur, a businessman, an activist, and he himself has been involved in a number of delicate hostage negotiation situations because he was associated with a mutual friend, the late Ambassador Bill Richardson.
00:03:48.580Let me bring Jason Lyons, a true mensch, into the Stone Zone.
00:04:03.580Jason, I saw you late last week and your assessment of the current situation domestically regarding Jews and the threat to the Jewish people was really more succinct and better put than anything I heard or read recently.
00:04:23.700It is unconscionable to me that this administration is supporting both sides in the Middle East.
00:04:32.140We have, as you know, unfrozen well in excess of $100 billion in funds for a rogue regime in Iran based on their promise that they would use this strictly for humanitarian purposes, when in fact it's pretty clear that they have used it to restart their nuclear weapons development program and to subsidize Islamic terrorists in Hamas and Hezbollah.
00:05:02.080The response from this administration has been embarrassing.
00:05:06.820I'm going to turn the floor over to you because I myself think these politics are extremely complicated.
00:05:13.820And I want to know what you think not only this administration is falling down on, but what President Trump can do to make it clear that he is and has always been a staunch supporter of Israel.
00:05:29.240Well, thank you, Roger, I appreciate the question, I happen to have been in Israel on October 7, I spent most of that day in a bunker below the King David Hotel, which is in Jerusalem with approximately 500 other occupants.
00:05:49.660It was a very concerning day, it was a very concerning day, we didn't know what was happening, as the day went on, we found out that approximately 1200 innocent civilians had been killed, and Israel basically changed forever on that day.
00:06:07.840Subsequently, President Biden made a very strong speech, he followed up with a trip to Israel, I had said on an earlier podcast that at the time he was doing all the right moves.
00:06:23.980But eventually, I had a very strong speech, but eventually, I had a feeling that his participation would wane.
00:06:30.880And to get to your question about today, we've seen a little back and forth just in the last 72 hours with the support that the Biden administration is going to offer.
00:06:43.000There was a so-called threat last week that they would cut off some of the arms that Israel had been using, and then what typically happens behind the scenes is, whether it's an AIPAC or other lobbyist groups, they start working with members of Congress to try to get back to the center.
00:07:08.520But we find it rather concerning that the United States presidents would use that threat at all to begin with.
00:07:18.180We hope, I heard this morning that Ben Cardin, who was a senior senator from Maryland, was one of the individuals in the Senate that kind of pulled Biden aside and said, you know, this is not the best way to go.
00:07:35.720So he was sort of getting chastised a bit from some of the elder statesmen in his own party.
00:07:40.960But the progressive left have done an unbelievable campaign in trying to tie this future election politically with Israel.
00:07:53.060The word on the street, according to them, is that the more support you offer Hamas slash the Palestinians, and there is a differentiation between the two, which unfortunately a lot of the young kids, which we'll talk about, don't completely understand.
00:08:10.140And Biden was kind of telling the world, or at least the United States voters, that maybe I'll take my foot off the break a little bit, and we won't give Israel everything they need, hoping to win back some of those votes.
00:08:44.340Part of it was he had a lot of Jewish friends, and he had a very nice relationship with Bibi Netanyahu.
00:08:53.040You know, the obvious reason that people like to bring up is that some of his kids are Jewish, specifically Jared and Ivanka.
00:09:01.060And Jared certainly was very active with the Abraham Accords in the last administration.
00:09:09.240But, you know, moving the embassy to Israel, to Jerusalem, was something that, you know, many presidents had promised during the campaign.
00:09:20.980And he actually was the only one who ever delivered it.
00:09:23.780So I think it's one of those things where, you know, maybe we're glossing over it, but it was a very, very big deal that he did that.
00:09:33.880He was given the same amount of pressure that all the previous presidents had been given, and the same warnings that if you do this, you're going to basically light a fire in the Middle East, and you're going to, you know, have war coming from all sides.
00:09:49.380He basically didn't pick up the phone for several weeks before he eventually made that decision, and only afterwards he told some of these individuals, whether it was Sisi, whether it was Jordan, whether it was Saudi Arabia, that, oh, I'm sorry, I missed your phone call.
00:10:07.580You know, had I known, maybe I would have reconsidered.
00:10:10.440But the president was very decisive and certainly said a very big statement to the world that, you know, we are the president, we are the United States, we are leaders, we're not followers, we don't do things because other countries tell us to do them.
00:10:29.120We do them, and then the rest of the world has to live with the consequences.
00:10:32.480Your specific question about what presidents, or former President Trump, could do to capture what I believe would be somewhere between another 7% or 8% of the Jewish vote.
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00:14:04.300I am joined, as usual, by my co-host, Troy Smith, the editor-in-chief of Slingshot.News, and our very special guest, Jason Lyons, who has served as a liaison for the Republican Party to the American Jewish community for well over 15 years.
00:14:25.260He played an absolute key role in the election of U.S. Senator Rick Scott, Governor Rick Scott.
00:14:31.880He also played a key role in 2016 in the election of President Donald Trump.
00:14:39.420He is the man that I look to for advice regarding issues in the Middle East, particularly issues sensitive to Israel, and we're honored to have him with us today.
00:14:50.480Jason, you were just starting to talk about an anti-Semitism task force, which I think is a great idea.
00:15:34.740You know, the brain is maybe not fully developed until you're around 21, 22 years old, not to say that, you know, these kids are idiots, which is, you know, some of the rhetoric that people were saying.
00:15:46.640I mean, I would say they're young and not completely knowledgeable of history.
00:15:52.380I think you have people going around telling them things, that there's a David and Goliath type of situation going on in what they would call Palestine right now, where you have this tremendous army, the IDF, hosing over these innocent Palestinians.
00:16:11.040And, you know, obviously, there's not much they can do about it, but perhaps set up some tents in a university.
00:16:19.940And then that spills over to Jewish students not being able to get into the university.
00:16:25.940It spills over to other social networking.
00:16:29.180And before you know it, the entire country is looking at this uproar from these millennials, which is quite sad.
00:16:41.040So, you know, broken glass, you know, breaking things.
00:16:44.440There was an event called Kristallnacht, which happened in the 30s in Germany, where, you know, what happened was, is there was a certain amount of propaganda that happened in Germany.
00:16:57.060And usually it happens during difficult economic times.
00:17:02.820You know, countries look for scapegoats.
00:17:04.880And the Jews typically have been a scapegoat since the beginning of time, well-documented, many regimes.
00:17:14.940The interesting thing is that all of them, whether it's the Romans, Persians, you know, all these stories in the Bible, you know, they're all gone, you know, but the Jews somehow stick around.
00:17:26.200What I find interesting is that, you know, let's say in the United States alone, let's just say, for argument's sake, there's 330 Americans, there's about 7 million Jews.
00:17:36.760I mean, you're talking about less than 2% of the entire country.
00:17:39.760Now, you almost have to ask yourself, how is it possible that a nation of, you know, less than 0,02% of the entire world and a country which is about the size of Rhode Island is the headline story almost every single day?
00:18:01.520I mean, why do people really care so much about it?
00:18:05.280Well, this is, you know, we were told in the Bible that this is just the way it's going to be.
00:18:14.020Jews, for, you know, better or worse, you know, are sometimes a victim of history.
00:18:20.840And we were told as a youngster that at the end of days, which according to the Jewish calendar is within the next 250 years, there would be a serious uprising against Jewish people around the world.
00:18:38.280So the silver lining is that we believe that when all this is over, Messiah will come.
00:18:44.180That's why the evangelicals are so supportive of Israel and so on and so forth.
00:18:50.560The silver lining, though, that I want to discuss is I'll give you a small example.
00:18:57.080I was playing golf Sunday at a beautiful new golf course in Miami called Shell Bay with my friend, Mr. Ari Pearl.
00:19:08.720And he said to me, oh, look over there, there's Gary Player.
00:19:45.340There wasn't a time that I remember where people voluntarily would come over to me and try to take claim to being half Jewish or friendly towards Jewish people.
00:20:02.180You know, people kind of kept to themselves.
00:20:03.980Even though there is a lot of anti-Semitism going on, there is an enormous amount of support that has come the Jewish way as well.
00:20:14.780And I think some of the efforts that whether the students or the people behind these students, I think it started to backfire because I am seeing people of all different faiths starting to see the lopsidedness, if that's a word, of this argument.
00:20:37.560And the Jewish people are starting to get a lot of support.
00:20:41.080There's nothing that unites a nation, a religion, and in my particular case, the Jewish people, than when lines are crossed.
00:20:54.980And, you know, not to necessarily bring up a sore subject, but, you know, when Kanye West was saying certain things, we kind of let it slide.
00:21:07.060But when he started saying things like, you know, he liked Hitler and Hitler did the right thing, and he kind of crossed the line where no matter what your background is, it unites us.
00:21:23.240And he unites all good people around the world, and that's kind of where his demise came from.
00:21:33.940And we are a very sympathetic and forgiving people.
00:21:38.720And, you know, there's perhaps room for forgiveness over there, if it's sincere.
00:21:43.840But it's interesting how Orthodox reform, conservative Jews, all united very quickly behind that decision to try to eradicate that threat.
00:21:57.000So the answer is, yes, anti-Semitism is up, but on the flip side, support is high as well.
00:22:04.980And the president, Trump, hopefully, will have a chance to be back in office.
00:22:11.780And it would be nice, besides setting up an anti-Semitic task force, he would reinstate the Jewish White House liaison.
00:22:20.440I don't even know if there is one today.
00:22:22.540Unfortunately, there had been from many administrations, but, you know, that person serves sort of de facto as an ambassador to the Jewish people around the world.
00:22:34.060And, unfortunately, that's something that we need right now.
00:22:38.100What's happening in the U.N., you know, pretty much no different.
00:22:41.620You know, since 1948, the U.N. hasn't been very friendly towards Israel, to say the least.
00:22:49.060They are now moving forward with recognizing the Palestinians and their own states.
00:22:57.220But if we want to talk a little bit about the education of the young Americans, try to really understand the difference between Hamas and Palestinians.
00:23:10.040And for those of you who say that the Palestinians voted for the Hamas people, you know, that's an unfair statement.
00:23:20.540You know, they would hold machine guns to their heads and they would tell them who to vote for.
00:23:24.980And, you know, what's happening October 7th is, I believe, was born out of the Israel getting closer to having a relationship with Saudi Arabia.
00:23:38.100Saudi Arabia is the big piece of the puzzle in the Abraham Accords, which, you know, Jared Kushner was the architect under his father-in-law.
00:23:52.040And, you know, they had brought four countries under the umbrella at the time, UAE being the largest one.
00:23:59.240But relationships with Saudi Arabia were really on fast track.
00:24:10.120And even today, you know, the airspace is open right now.
00:24:13.060But as things got really close to what I would say was some sort of announcement, I don't know if I'd call it a peace agreement, but normalization, I think October 7th probably had to happen to mix things up.
00:24:31.180And meticulous job by Hamas, the Iranian-backed organization, they caused a serious amount of damage.
00:24:42.920I don't want to point fingers at whose fault it was, but needless to say, it was a total disaster, the equivalent of many September 11ths, if you take the proportionate numbers between Israel and the United States.
00:24:59.980And they knew at the time that Israel would retaliate.
00:25:05.580Retaliation means that they have to go into Gaza and kill these terrorists.
00:25:12.900So, of course, they knew that they would take hostages and take Palestinians, put them around the installations where they shoot rockets from.
00:25:23.100Israel would have no choice but to take out these installations, thus killing 20,000, 30,000 Palestinians, according to reports.
00:25:35.580But on a previous podcast that I was on, which was days after October 7th, I pretty much played out the playbook exactly how this thing would play out over the next six months.
00:25:47.960And, unfortunately, that's the way it played out.
00:25:51.700You know, unfortunately, as time goes by, people only remember what happened most recently.
00:25:58.560You know, October 7th, that was over six months.
00:26:01.800Unfortunately, the hostage situation is still there.
00:26:06.080You know, by my count, there could be as many as 150 hostages.
00:26:09.640I know many people have said the worst in terms of perhaps many of them have passed away or died or murdered, which is why they're having a difficult time doing a trade because the other side was 100 for one.
00:26:30.060So, you know, when you don't have the numbers to offer them, it kind of stalls.
00:26:35.320But that being said, Roger, Jason, let me ask you, because you do have experience with these delicate hostage negotiation situations.
00:26:47.180To me, it is unbelievable that Joe Biden has been unable to secure the release of Americans from the very beginning.
00:26:54.700As you pointed out to me, it was Ronald Reagan's pledge that he would release the Iranian hostages that probably tipped the 1980 presidential election to him.
00:27:06.600By the way, that election was much closer than people remember it.
00:27:09.980Today, people remember it as a landslide.
00:27:13.440But don't you think this is among Biden's greatest failures, that he cannot get American hostages back from, I guess, Iran, essentially, really, Hamas?
00:27:27.280I mean, yes, listen, you know, when we were talking Saturday nights, like you said, you know, that's one of the things I do think that President Trump should do.
00:27:37.700You know, I think he should make a statement that, you know, within the first 100 days, he will get all of the remaining hostages released, which is similar to what Ronald Reagan said back in 1979.
00:27:50.700I will tell you, it's very complicated.
00:27:55.200You have the Qataris that are based in, obviously, in their country.
00:28:04.120You have, you know, Governor Bill Richardson, you referenced him.
00:28:09.460I think if he was alive today, you know, he would be one of the individuals that would be part of that delegation to try to help release them.
00:28:17.160And I think part of the problem right now is, unfortunately, you know, there's a good chance a lot of them are not there any longer.
00:28:26.460But I think this goes back to the strength in the Oval Office.
00:28:31.700There was a certain amount of gravitas and, you know, real iron fist strength that President Trump had that President Biden just doesn't have.
00:28:43.400You could make an argument that, you know, a lot of these things that are happening in the world today might not have happened under President Trump.
00:28:53.060I won't go as far as saying this particular thing on October 7th.
00:28:58.040But, you know, it is it's very possible.
00:29:00.700You know, the world is an unsafe place today.
00:29:06.780And when they smell somebody that's weak in the Middle East, they jump for it.
00:29:14.260And, you know, this is one of the reasons why, you know, people are very concerned about China and Taiwan right now.
00:29:20.920There's a certain amount of time where the Chinese could have an opportunity to go in there as well.
00:29:26.640This is why Vladimir Putin, you know, took these four years and used them wisely and, you know, his words to take a piece of land and just the way that's been played out as well.
00:29:40.500I mean, he slow played it in terms of he could have taken over Ukraine, I think, in, you know, four or five weeks.
00:29:47.040But I think he purposely slow played his hands over the course of these four years for a couple of reasons.
00:29:54.240One is he wanted to bleed out the United States.
00:29:56.520You know, we've now given over 200 billion dollars to Ukraine.
00:30:02.100And I think he really wants to see his old friend Donald Trump back.
00:30:07.240And I think that's his way of being a proxy for him as well.
00:30:13.200So it all has to do with a strong person in the Oval Office, President Trump just, you know, it's interesting.
00:30:20.640His very first trip when he became president was to Saudi Arabia.
00:30:24.940You know, he was trying to make a point that he was going to the wealthiest, probably strongest in terms of economics because of their oil reserves to the kingdom.
00:30:36.360And that statement was very important.
00:30:38.680It basically showed the entire Middle East that, you know, I don't want to think I don't want to see anything happening on my watch.
00:30:46.560And I got to tell you, for four years, it was unbelievable when he was president.
00:30:51.880And then all of a sudden, you know, it's we're on either television or a podcast.
00:30:57.240I don't know if I can say what it really is, but it's a unfavorable situation right now.
00:31:04.400I'm afraid we are out of time for this segment.
00:31:07.200I want to thank our special guest, Jason Lyons, truly the man who I know, knows more about the Middle East and the American Jewish community than any of my friends.
00:31:18.700And I appreciate, Jason, you're joining us today in the Stone Zone and appreciate your insights.
00:36:18.020Well, Roger, you know, my question that I kept, you know, rattling around in my head yesterday is like,
00:36:23.700well, I think Biden is the pass-through for the most radical elements of the Democratic Party.
00:36:29.880And my worry with this is I think Trump comes into this election as the favorite, and he's in a rare position in that regard
00:36:37.900because we don't see it many times where an incumbent is getting beat in every swing state if you look at the polling, Roger.
00:36:47.160So, there's really never been a situation like this that I've seen.
00:36:51.480And the way I look at the way that Biden is used as a pass-through, and I say, well, this first debate, as you say,
00:36:59.140before the nomination process, before these guys are even nominated to the party as the party nominee heading into the general election,
00:37:07.780I think it provides an opportunity for the Democrats to use Joe Biden once again as a pass-through to kind of attack Donald Trump.
00:37:15.240And, you know, looking at the strategy as far as Biden's concerned, Roger, I think that the Democrats may be using him to, you know,
00:37:24.120and we've looked at the numbers, by the way, yesterday, 84 million people tuned in to the first Trump and Hillary debate.
00:37:30.960That was the highest-ranked debate of all time.
00:37:33.380And I would think that this debate, and I want to get your opinion on that, I think this debate will probably beat that.
00:37:38.040And my only worry is that in the time between June and the actual nomination process that the Democrats will, as you've predicted and many others,
00:37:48.480replace Joe Biden, and therefore this whole debate, which may garner all of the views, as we've seen historically,
00:37:55.380the first debate almost always has the most views, it may take some wind out of the Trump camp.
00:38:01.120And I'm interested to hear your thoughts on that.
00:38:02.520You know, this is a high-stakes situation, a debate before either candidate is nominated, as never happened before.
00:38:13.800You see Robert F. Kennedy Jr. today going wild because he's been excluded,
00:38:21.080but he isn't on the ballot on enough states to theoretically win 270 electoral votes.
00:38:28.460So why should he be included? Because he's a vanity candidate for president?
00:38:32.700I mean, at the juncture that he gets enough signatures and enough ballot access decisions
00:38:40.620to actually get on the ballot in enough states to theoretically win, then yes, I agree that he should be included in the debates.
00:38:49.860But then, on that basis, the Libertarian Party candidate should be included in the debate.
00:38:56.000The Green Party candidate should be included in the debate.
00:39:01.760One thing that I do agree with is that this unilateral decision by Donald Trump to accept an invitation
00:39:08.840and a challenge from CNN and Joe Biden is the end of the line for the Presidential Commission on Debates.
00:39:17.360Now, the debates used to be sponsored by the League of Women Voters.
00:39:23.320The famous 1960 debate between Nixon and Kennedy was sponsored by the League of Women Voters.
00:39:30.480The Reagan-Carter debates were sponsored by the League of Women Voters.
00:39:37.420But at some point, the two major parties came up with the idea of the Commission on Presidential Debates.
00:39:45.580Well, first of all, the Commission on Presidential Debates is not a commission.
00:40:01.140And the co-chair people of the Commission on Presidential Debates are the Republican and Democratic national chair people.
00:40:09.740So they have always used this artificial criteria that you had to be at 15 percent of the vote in the national polls to be considered.
00:40:22.520When Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson had three polls that showed him breaking that 20 percent,
00:40:31.120this was in 2012, I believe, the commission had a hasty meeting in which they increased the threshold to 20.
00:40:40.040This is about keeping others other than the Republican and the Democrat out of the debate.
00:40:45.520So I'm glad that they have been unempowered.
00:40:49.380On the other hand, CNN making the rules in the debate, controlling the microphones, this gives me great, great pause.
00:40:58.700Look, I know the president is anxious to debate Joe Biden.
00:41:04.260I'm surprised that Biden is willing, given his mental and physical deterioration.
00:41:10.960But perhaps his advisors think they can pump him through enough drugs to get through a debate.
00:41:17.820Or, and here's an alternative theory, which may be actually true.
00:41:21.700If Biden performs so badly in this debate, there's plenty of time to replace him at the Democratic National Convention in July.
00:41:32.540So, look, I have been on the record here for some time saying that the leaders of the Democratic Party, particularly the Obamas,
00:41:40.840I think former President Barack Obama, without any question, the single most influential person in the Democratic Party or the administration today,
00:41:51.640I think are increasingly concerned about Biden's ability to win, never mind Biden's ability just to perform as a candidate.
00:42:02.100And consequently, this could, for Joe Biden, be a trap.
00:42:07.900It could also be, for Donald Trump, a tremendous opportunity, because, look, the odds are good that he is going to vanquish Joe Biden in a debate,
00:42:20.760assuming that the deck is not stacked against him in terms of rules.
00:42:25.560Who could forget the town meeting where Caitlin Collins tried to take on Donald Trump and she got utterly and completely destroyed?
00:42:36.580The Trump style really works for debates.
00:42:41.740These are not classic marquee of Queensberry rules.
00:42:45.360These are slugfests, as Hillary and Donald Trump proved in their debates in 2016.
00:42:54.000But the idea of CNN controlling the microphones, that gives me great pause.
00:43:00.580Well, Roger, and you can best believe that the cases brought against Trump in every instance are going to be used against him in these debates.
00:43:07.900And that's why I wanted to get your comment on some video, breaking video we have from President Trump this morning outside of the courthouse,
00:43:14.720discussing something that we've discussed on here, a man named Michael Coangelo.
00:43:17.920And I want to play that and get your thoughts on President Trump's statement outside the courthouse with Representative Matt Gaetz, Representative Lauren Boebert, and others this morning.
00:43:39.400In fact, a lead person from the DOJ is running the trial.
00:43:43.940So Biden's office is running this trial.
00:43:47.900This trial is a scam and it's a sham and it shouldn't happen.
00:43:51.580Yeah, I think he makes the excellent point.
00:43:55.100In other words, there is, in fact, a racketeering conspiracy here.
00:43:59.740It is absolutely clear that New York State Attorney General Letitia James, prosecutors Alvin Bragg, prosecutor Fannie Wills and Nathan Wade, Jack Smith and members of his staff have all met with the Biden Justice Department, have all met with the White House counsel prior to these indictments.
00:44:22.320And then how incredibly strange that a man would leave the august and highly coveted number three position in the U.S. Justice Department to take a job in the Manhattan County District Attorney's Office, actually New York County, as a line prosecutor simply to prosecute this case.
00:44:45.680This case was cooked up in the Biden Justice Department.
00:44:49.920It is ironic that the House Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York failed to bring any charges after examining all of the evidence, after taking Michael Cohn to a grand jury.
00:45:04.380An incredible story, an incredible story yesterday, Robert Costello, a former federal prosecutor himself, says before the House Oversight Committee that Michael Cohn told him specifically that Donald Trump was not involved in any of these transactions and that he had no role in it.
00:45:25.860And therefore, he, Cohn, had no leverage to make a deal for himself with federal prosecutors.
00:45:33.420Mr. Costello was defending and representing Mr. Cohn at that time.
00:45:43.600It will be curious to see whether Trump's lawyers call Mr. Costello as a defense witness.
00:45:51.300Remember, right now we are in the phase of the trial where the government puts on its case and its witnesses and President Trump's lawyers are allowed to cross-examine them.
00:46:03.700But when that's done, then the president will put on his defense with the government lawyers being entitled to cross-examine the president's witnesses.
00:46:12.860I would hope that Mr. Costello, given these stories, I've read several this morning, will be called as a witness.
00:46:30.860The rest of the proof doesn't support Michael Cohn.
00:46:33.480And, by the way, one thing that you're not reporting yet is that besides making that statement, I swear to God, I don't have anything on Donald Trump, he also said more times than that answer, guys, I want you to understand I will do whatever the F I have to do.
00:47:09.080And who do you think he blames for that?
00:47:11.660And why do you think he names his most recent book Revenge?
00:47:16.020I mean, quite frankly, he's using this to monetize himself because this is the only way this guy can make money right now, selling books and T-shirts and trinkets and being the ultimate anti-Trumper.
00:47:28.960And because he was doing that on TV and I saw that, I said, I can't sit by and let this guy tell the grand jury, tell the jurors now this false story when he told us the opposite story at a moment when he was desperately seeking a way out and was willing to kill himself.
00:47:48.580And certainly cooperating with truthful information is a lot easier.
00:47:53.700But he didn't have any truthful information.
00:47:56.040That was Robert Costello, former federal prosecutor who formerly represented Michael Cohn.
00:48:02.680We're going to go to a quick commercial break and we'll be right back in the Stone Zone in just a minute.
00:51:26.280Troy, we've got about, I don't know, three or four minutes left here, about five minutes.
00:51:32.440Why don't you continue on our political review?
00:51:36.220Well, Roger, this was something that I wanted to get your thoughts on.
00:51:39.520And I see a lot of stuff about Richard Nixon.
00:51:42.300Because right now, I don't know if you know this, but there's a very popular Nixon Library YouTube channel that puts out reels and videos constantly.
00:52:20.080Elvis was very, very anti-counterculture.
00:52:24.640This, of course, was during the Vietnam War.
00:52:27.260And when Elvis and his band were in Washington, D.C., the king dropped a handwritten letter off for the president at one of the guard booths at the White House asking for a meeting.
00:52:40.880The president's advisors looked at it and urged the president to meet with the pop singer, probably the most popular entertainer in the country at the time.
00:52:50.680As you could see from those photos, Elvis was in his white fringe jumpsuit phase, and he brought a pair of antique dueling pistols to the president as a gift.
00:53:06.120Of course, the Secret Service saw that as Elvis is in the building and he has a pistol.
00:53:12.340Well, that was straightened out pretty quickly.
00:53:15.420Elvis was seeking a special DEA badge.
00:53:19.580Since he wanted to be a drug enforcement agent, I think it's because he thought it meant that when he traveled abroad, his own bags would not be searched for drugs.
00:53:29.660At least that's what one of his band members said after his death.
00:53:34.060The truth is Elvis was high as a kite during the entire meeting in which he was denouncing the drug culture.
00:53:42.140The most interesting thing is that when he left the White House, he, of course, was met by a gaggle of the press, and they said, wow, you and Richard Nixon, that's an unlikely combination.
00:53:58.620And Elvis, the king, said, well, he's a really groovy cat, but he dresses kind of funny, which is kind of an interesting comment.
00:54:09.380Now, to this day, Troy, that photo you showed, that black and white photo of the president and the king, is the number one most ordered image from the National Archive, even to this day.
00:54:24.060That's amazing history on that, Roger, and I know your connection with Nixon.
00:54:28.920It's so special to be able to get that kind of firsthand information here.
00:54:32.500And I know there's so many people out there that love Elvis Presley.
00:54:34.780They love the – I think it's the mix, honestly.
00:54:38.460It's Nixon, who's this kind of straight-laced guy, and then Elvis, who's obviously – you know, you can tell by the pictures, he even looks a little out of it.
00:54:49.640We had one more breaking piece of news here that I want to get your quick comment here on, Roger.
00:54:55.300And it was the White House blocking the release of audio of Biden's special counsel interview with Robert Herr, in which he brought up the death of his son and then accused Robert Herr's investigators of bringing up the death of his son.
00:55:10.220They're refusing this now because they're saying that the GOP only wants the tapes for political reasons.
00:55:16.980It's funny you bring this up right after we spoke about Richard Nixon.
00:55:20.460Didn't the Democrats and the media insist that all of Nixon's recordings had to be released, that it was a matter of public interest?
00:55:28.680And, of course, Nixon litigated over that, and the Supreme Court ruled that, indeed, Nixon's tapes did have to be turned over to the special prosecutor and to the Senate Watergate Committee and to the public.
00:55:43.060By the way, those tapes were also being used for politics.
00:55:45.860They were being used for the political removal of the man who had just won the greatest landslide in American political history in a presidential election.
00:55:54.400So why is Joe Biden being treated differently?
00:55:58.340I hope that the House Republicans litigate this matter.
00:56:02.320They need to take it to the Supreme Court using the Nixon precedent.
00:56:06.560Joe Biden should have no ability to hide what's on that tape.
00:56:09.940I suspect what's on that tape is far more damaging than just who asked who about Joe Biden's son.
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